Kjalek
Appearance Kjalek was tall, even for a nord, easily as tall as the average altmer. He was decently well built, strong enough to move easily in his armor and swing his claymore with ease. He had shoulder-length blonde hair that showed signs of premature graying. His eyes were a deep blue, and could have been considered beautiful had they not been marred by unnatural streaks of gray. In his few appearances after the Hunt, the left of Kjalek's face was heavily scarred. Personality Kjalek was generally quiet, and did not smile often. He was kind and loyal to his friends, and brave in battle. He yearned to do the right thing and be a hero, but was plagued by guilt and doubt. He was mentally unstable, but his extreme self-discipline kept his madness fettered. Equipment Weapons Kjalek's primary and favored weapon was a large claymore. It was somewhat worn and had seen some use, but was always kept in top condition. He wore it on his back, affixed loosely by strips of leather. In addition to his claymore, Kjalek carried a small dagger and a crossbow. The dagger was small and nondescript, and was worn in a sheath strapped to Kjalek's left wrist. The crossbow was massive, and was the type of crossbow designed to punch through a fully armored knight from across a battlefield. Armor Kjalek kept himself sheathed in full plate armor. The armor was made of steel plate and completely covered his body. Background Pre-Legion Very little is known about Kjalek's life before he joined the legion. It is known he was born in Skyrim, though which hold he was born in is unknown. It is also known that he traveled to Elsweyr, and spent some time there, before joining the legion. He is known to have had his claymore at this point, but he he did not seem to have it with him when he was in the legion. Legion Kjalek joined the Legion is Elsweyr, shortly after his group was marched to Skyrim to fight the Stormcloaks. Kjalek seized command of his group after his captain was killed mid-battle, and his tactical ingenuity turned the tide of what could have been a crushing defeat. For this he was promoted to his former captain's rank. He slowly became obsessed with reclaiming the short lived hero status he had recieved after the battle, pushing the men under his command to greater and greater heights, and eventually to greater and greater atrocities. After nearly four months of his command, Kjalek went rogue from legion command, lying to and manipulating his men into believing he was stll carrying out the emperor's will. They became little more than common bandits, though much better trained and led by ruthless efficiency. His men finally discovered the truth about what they had been doing, and mutinied against Kjalek, capturing him and dragging him back to Cyrodiil to face trial for his crimes. Rather than being executed, as he normally should have been, Kjalek was imprisoned. An execution wouuld have drawn attention to his crimes, and the Empire prefered blame for his actions would continue to remain squarely on bandits rather than a rogue legion command. In the end he had served in the Legion for less than a year. Imprisoned Kjalek remained imprisoned for nearly half a decade. During this time he came to understand the crimes he had committed, and that he was not the hero he saw himself as. His sanity fractured, as he could not bring himself to accept responsibility for his reprehensible actions. Despite his growing instability he remained in control of himself, a display of his self-discipline and determination. Evenutally he and several other prisoners were to be transfered from the Imperial Prison to a high-security prison in Black Marsh. Fate was on his side, as a powerful group of bandits assumed the heavily guared convoy was an Imperial tax shipment, not a prison transfer. Kjalek took advantage of the confusion to escape, and was assumed to have been killed in the bandit attack. Early Mercenary Life The newly freed Kjalek made his way to Morrowind. He worked as a free laborer on a Redoran plantation and eventually made enough money to make a short trip to Skyrim and still fund a return trip to Morrowind. In Skyrim he re-acquired his claymore, though how exactly he located it and where he found it are unknown. Kjalek's first encounter with the Cammona Tong rapidly escalated into a full blown fight. This ended with Kjalek making a hasty exit, as he realized he was outnumbered. After this he began taking jobs that set him up against the Cammona Tong, using every opportunity to kill its members. In time his bloody vendetta against the Tong began to scale down, and he ended up in a working relationship with one of the Tong's leaders. Return to Skyrim At some point his newfound friendly relationship with the Cammona soured, and he left Morrowind for Skyrim. In Skyrim he continued to hunt bandits, but also started looting nordic tombs. He would descend into the crypts, destroy the draugr within, and pilfer the treasures he found within. He made a lot of money. However, his wife urged him to retire from his life as a warrior and become a farmer. It is not clear when he married the woman, though apparently he knew her in Morrowind. He settled down, and built a farm. It was there that he got the closest to being the hero he always dreamed of being. He was always the first to offer assistance to a neighbor, and would argue endlessly against accepting pay for any help he provided. He was loyal, friendly, and kind. It seemed he would have a happy ending. Shattered Dreams Fate once again changed the course of Kjalek's life. A group of three young men, who as boys had seen their homes and villages subjected to Kjalek's brutal onslaught in the Legion, had discovered he was still alive. They learned of his location and plotted their revenge. Kjalek's farm had not been doing well that year, and he was strapped for cash. The three made sure a rumor found its way to Kjalek that a nearby crypt, Mist-Fyrd, was laden with treasure. Of course only an experienced adventurer could hope to cut past the draugr that stood in the way. Kjalek pondered this rumor for weeks, realizing that this crypt could be the solution to his financial woes. One night, while his wife and children slept, he removed his old armor from storage and took his claymore down from the wall on which it hung. He suited up and headed to Mist-Fyrd. He battled his way through the mostly empty crypt, only to find a complete lack of the rumored treasure. He realized something was very wrong, and raced back to his home. He was far too late, his farm had been torched and his family executed. He found a scrap of paper with the words "Mist-Fyrd" written upon it, and he understood what whoever did this wanted him to do. He buried his loved ones, and then traveled to Mist-Fyrd once more, nearly blinded by tears, sorrow, and rage. He entered Mist-Fyrd, and descended through the dark. As he neared the bottom he realized that he would have to compose himself if he would have a chance at vengeance. He pulled himself together, though it was the hardest thing he had ever done. In the depths of Mist-Fyrd he faced three men. He feigned being blinded by rage and sorrow, allowing him to easily surprise and brutally kill one of the three. He followed up on this by easily dispatching of the second. During this, Kjalek noticed that the floor was coated in oil, likely to be set alight once he was dead. He cut through the tendons of the third man's legs, causing the man to topple to the ground. Kjalek then stamped the man's right arm, crushing the bones. His foe was now knocked to the ground, crippled and nearly immobile. Kjalek pulled a torch from the wall and began exiting the room. Before he reached the door he turned around, threw the torch into the oil, and left. A Mercenary Once More Kjalek spent the next years of his life wandering aimlessly. He took jobs that no one else would touch, hoping that he woud end up dead. It never worked. Kjalek would always come out on top, somehow surviving against all odds. By this time he had began to use the first of many false names, which allowed his fractured mind to split further. Eventually he decided to hunt an ancient troll near High Rock and Skyrim's border, and offspring of the ancient and terrible Uderfrykte. He encountered a group of adventurers in the depths of a swamp and joined them. Though the group eventually dissolved, he made some friends among them and encountered some of them once more some time later. He began working closely with this group, having seen a chance of redeeming himself and become a true hero. Among the the groups he worked with he met a breton woman who he began to care for, but his unstable mind caused that relationship to deteriorate. After a few jobs with this group he returned to Morrowind, rekindling his alliance with the Cammona Tong. He had been hunted by an enigmatic man for some time, and decided to destroy this threat. He manipulated the Cammona into supporting this effort, and in the process re-encountered the same group of friends. But there was a new person with them. He helped his friends, only to realize his enemy was among them, a man calling himself "Nahlgaaf". After Nahlgaaf tried to murder him, Kjalek ended up bleeding out in Morrowind's Ashlands, though he was saved. He visited an ally in the Cammona Tong, in order to recruit a Cammona affiliated mercenary company for a Great Battle. Faking His Death At the conclusion of this battle Kjalek faked his own death, making it appear as if he had been murdered by a member of his own mercenary company and that the men had tried to burn his corpse to hide the evidence. He then ordered the mercenary company to regroup with him in Morrowind. The mercenaries were stopped by an Imperial Patrol at Morrowind's border, and a member of the company was arrested for the murder of Kjalek. Nahlgaaf's Hunt Kjalek planned to lure out and kill Nahlgaaf, severing this clinging vestige of his past. He utilized the remnants of the Cammona mercenaries as a private army, ordering it to sow chaos within a certain region of Skyrim. The trap worked too well. Nahlgaaf took the bait, and assembled a party to track down and kill his nemesis. Kjalek, Nahlgaaf, and Nahlgaaf's men faced off in the depths of a nordic crypt, called Mist-Fyrd. Nahlgaaf sealed the sellswords and Kjalek within the depths of the crypt, while using his pyromancy to collapse the crypt's roof. The crypt, being built beneath an underground lake, crumbled apart in a deluge of water and stone. Nahlgaaf escaped, and Kjalek aided the sellswords in their escape. He, however, did not escape. He was hit by a falling stone, his helmet smashed and thrown free. The left half of his face was covered in blood and torn flesh, and as he pulled himself back to his feet, another stone fell, smashing his left leg and opening a gaping hole in the ground. The stone dragged Kjalek into the chasm by his mangled leg, and shortly after the ruin flooded. Trivia *Kjalek enjoyed wood carving and often worked on his carvings during down times. *Kjalek used numerous false names. *His last known condition left him with a ruined face, significant cranial trauma, and a crushed left leg. Category:Nords Category:Males Category:Mercenaries Category:Adventurers Category:Characters